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Random Quote: Fishing "A pleasure disguised as a sport"
I've got an older 37 Topaz with a Marlin tower and it's a very stable boat on the drift, I've looked at 32's out of the water, they look like basically the same hull, just shorter. I've spoken to people with 32's, from what they tell me, as long as it doesn't have a big tower on it, their stable.
I can't speak about the older models but the more recent 32's ride & fish great (feels like a much bigger boat and it is set up for fishing). A friend of mine bought one from a dealer down in the Stone Harbor NJ area, he loves the boat and raves about how good the dealer was.
We built Topaz from 1999 to 2006. So please accept this as completely biased. There's some pride of authorship here.
First, there's no perfect hull bottom out there. Each brand has its pros and cons. Topaz was always reknown as a great sportfishing boat. We re-introduced the 32 Topaz back to the market in 1999. Prior to 1999, a 32 was an 18,000# boat. An 18,000# 32 Topaz was build to top out at 25 knots and cruise 20/22.
The market in 1999 was for a 30 knot boat with a 26 to 28 knot cruise. To maintain its legendary ride, we raised the lamination schedule to 20,500# to accomodate larger engines and J.Q. Publics appetite for faster speeds. We wanted the boat to feel the same at 30 knots as your dad's or grandad's 32 at 23 knots.
Starting in 2005, Topaz went to offering, almost exclusively, 32's with the 460 hp electronically controlled Cat C-7's. Top End: (fully laden with tuna tower, divnycell hardtop, outriggers, chair, full fuel) ... a scalding 36.5 knots with a true 32/33 cruise. To maintain the same great ride in heavy seas at faster speeds, Topaz went to an even heavier lamination schedule... adding another 3,500# of glass layed into the hull bottom. The c.g. (center of gravity) was lowered an inch and half so that even with a fully blown tuna tower and the toughest seas the boat won't roll you to death, layover on its sides or bow steer coming over the top of the steepest following seas. This put 2005 and up 32 Topaz's tipping the scales at 24,000#.
A 32 Topaz may be one of the best 32 foot sportfishing hulls ever built for overall rough water seakeeping. For starts, there's simple physics. More weight, better rough water ride. Most other brands 32's out there in that era generally weigh-in at the mid to upper teens with some exceptions. Some brands were built with as little as a 15,000# displacement. Great for Florida maybe but not the cold angry North Atlantic waters.
A 32 Topaz will have a modified vee bottom. At the bow you have a wave piercing 59 degree entry. For comparison, most entries are in the 48 to 52 degree variety. The 48 to 52 degree (shallower) entry allows the manufacturer to carry the beam further forward, which in turn allows for marginally more interior cabin width, which gives the ladies in your life a more pleasing visual. But, the extra couple of beam inches in the cabin area is of course at the sacrifice of a steeper entry. Boats are a zero-sum game. There's only so much real estate and what you gain here you lose there. So, choose your poison. The advantages of the (steeper) 59 degree entry is the boat looks like an icebreaker coming at you. In rough head seas, drop a little tab on the ass end, push the nose down and use the bow entry like a knife blade to split the wave. At Topaz we were building boats, not condos.
At the transom, Topaz has an 18 degree transom deadrise. When the market changed in the mid-nineties to steeper dearise, Topaz went out of fashion. In our view, there are more cummulative negatives in a deeper deadrise in rough water than positives. We could have for fashion purposes changed the deadrise in 1999 when we re-introduced the 32, but we stuck to our guns. As fads would have it, deep deadrises are now slowly going out of fashion for a version of the modified bottom we've always had.
The shallower transom deadrise and reversed outside strakes makes the boat go faster, turn faster, burn less fuel, less prone to roll when drift fishing. The reversed strakes act as stabilizers. When running at speed, they also provide more lift, less drag and curl the water down and away from the boat. This helps keep the water down and close to the sea on windy days. For comparison purposes, a steeper transom deadrise (steep = 20 to 24 degrees) will run a bit better and softer dead in a 90 degree head sea using less tab. The downside, in my view, to a steep transom deadrise are many... that on every other compass point, quartering up sea, quartering down sea, beam-to (waves rolling in on the boat parrallel to its intended course) a steep deadrise boat will bow steer... a lot. Drift fishing.... a steep deadrise has a lot of roll to it.
Bowsteering is a function of both geometry and physics. Bow steer is directly proportional to the deadrise. Think of deadrise as a curved edge that runs from the transom to the bow. Now think of a snowski. A ski has two tapered (curved edges) To turn left, simply lay the left edge over onto the snow and the ski flies off to the left. Lay the right edge over on the snow and bop! the ski flies off to the right. Bow steer on a boat follows the same principle but, unlike a snowski which helps you turn left when you want to turn left which is desireable, bowsteering makes the boat turn left (or right) when you really want to go straight.
Even modestly rough water has the tendency to push the boat to-and-fro as you ride along. And just like a ski, the curvier (higher the deadrise) the keel the more the boat wants to veer off the to the left or to the right. In really rough water, with taller waves and sharper peaks, the curvature of the keel becomes even mores sensitive. I have a friend with a restored 31 Bertram (24 degree dearise). In tightly bunched 5 footers coming home from the canyons (following seas) sometimes we have to disengage the autopilot because when the boat crosses a wave crest, it violently veers off to the left or to the right. It has so much bow steer in it, that when it veers off right, the pilot snaps the rudder hard over trying to wildly correct the boat back to its intended course. If you don't disengage the a-p, we joke you need a neckbrace for a week by the time you get home. If you disengage the a-p, it's a long really boring ride home to have to constantly steer a boat left and right for that long.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. A 32 Topaz is among the best. I have a friend in Florida, who has a new 2006 never been registered 32 Topaz he's looking to sell. He's getting out of the boat business and liquidating his inventory. I told him to me the boat and I'd sell it for him. It's up here in Stone Harbor, NJ for liquidation. Every Topaz built since 1999 was delivered out of Stone Harbor Marina.
It's got new Cat c-7's and has complete new boat warranties. There's no tower, no electronics. You could finish it anyway you like. Let me know. You could get a great deal and I get to help a friend.
You may email me at stoneharborm@cs.com if you want more info. If there's any other 32 Topaz out there you're looking at. Get me the hull id and I'll tell you everything I know about it.
The good information you can get off of this site is amazing........That was a great read....................This will surely not end the debate of which is better (deep v or modified v) but it sheds a lot of factual information right from the source............
Oh and by the way....................That is almost the same way Jack Henriques explained it to me when I told him that I had narrowed my decision down to one of his boats and a Carolina Classic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a 2005 Bimini Marine, built from the original 24 topaz molds. We fish regularly in the canyons off Ocean City Maryland and the boat is flawless, just not FAST as a twin outboard but at a solid 25 knot cruise the Yanmar engine will sip fuel making it very affordable to run.
Bill
After searching for a few months for an offshore battlewagon and initially looking at the older 32 Topaz, I was slowly led away from these boats for what people described as a wet, rough riding hull. I had pretty much just settled on a deeper vee boat, but after reading this post I may have to take another look at these boats, especially since the guy says they are using the same hull on a newer model boat that was used on a 25 yr old boat, they must have done somthing right. Those new Topaz's are the nicest looking 32's on the market IMO.
I fished a '87 32 Topaz out of Oregon Inlet, NC for over ten years. The boat is a battlewagon! Excellent fishability, good ride, comfortable accomodatation for a small crew, well built and well laid out. More weight and more horsepower would be the ticket for that hull, I'll bet everything the previous post says about newer ones is on the money.
Drawbacks: Mechanics hate them (as they probably do most expresses) It is difficult to service the engines and gears. All of your other stuff: AC, Genset, Batteries, strainers, stuffing boxes, etc. are under the cockpit sole, so if you maintain your own stuff, you better not be claustrophobic. Visibility from the lower helm is not the best. In crappy weather or in the dark, I preferred to run the boat from the tower.
After searching for a few months for an offshore battlewagon and initially looking at the older 32 Topaz, I was slowly led away from these boats for what people described as a wet, rough riding hull. I had pretty much just settled on a deeper vee boat, but after reading this post I may have to take another look at these boats, especially since the guy says they are using the same hull on a newer model boat that was used on a 25 yr old boat, they must have done somthing right. Those new Topaz's are the nicest looking 32's on the market IMO.
Keep in mind, that before Egg Harbor bought Topaz from Stone Harbor Marine in early 2006, Topaz were all built with solid glass hulls - just like the originals; Egg Harbor's Topaz hulls are fully cored - imo, not an improvement, only a cost saver. The cockpit layout on the newer 32's is better than the 80's build's and the engine compartment is much better. They are good looking boats, and when Stone Harbor first started selling them in 2000, they were a steal at $215k - now they cost much more.
I went on a newer 32’ Topaz at the Miami show some years back, and overall thought it was a nice boat. Given the description of the hull, it doesn’t sound all that different (either in weight or dead rise) from other boats in its class, such as the Albemarle 32’.
I do have to comment on all the discussion about bow steering and dead rise, I do not think it is accurate to say that bow steering and dead rise are directly proportional.
A properly designed and properly trimmed deep vee hull will not bow steer. A poorly designed or poorly trimmed one will.
If you look closely at how a really good deep vee hull in this size class runs, for example, a Blackfin 33’, you will see that the boat runs bow high, almost to the extreme. On a flybridge boat, this is no problem as it does not affect visibility, on an express boat it can be a problem.
If the bow is high out of the water, it does not bow steer, period. This is a function of LCG (longitudinal center of gravity) or static trim. If you have run a deep vee, you know the basics- in a head sea, you put in tab and bury the bow to slice through. In a down sea, you pull out ALL of the tab to raise the bow. The problem is once you pull the tab out, it is what it is. You cannot raise the bow anymore than the static trim (LCG) will let you. If there is still all or part of the forefoot in the water, it’s going to bow steer when going downswell. At this point the dead rise makes little difference.
I also would make the point that coring a hull most certainly is not a cost savings, the labor component to correctly core a hull is huge compared to a simple, solid glass lay-up, and the required skill level is quite a bit higher. At the slower speeds the original Topaz was designed for, I would agree the heavier, solid laminate was probably the best solution. As the design goals changed, and higher top speeds were contemplated, I’m not sure simply adding extra glass and weight is such a good idea.
Not trying to be argumentative, just adding another perspective.
Keep in mind, that before Egg Harbor bought Topaz from Stone Harbor Marine in early 2006, Topaz were all built with solid glass hulls - just like the originals; Egg Harbor's Topaz hulls are fully cored - imo, not an improvement, only a cost saver. The cockpit layout on the newer 32's is better than the 80's build's and the engine compartment is much better. They are good looking boats, and when Stone Harbor first started selling them in 2000, they were a steal at $215k - now they cost much more.
LI32, I took the following right from Topaz's (Egg Harbor) website. All Topaz hulls according to the website are solid glass with no coring.
"The Topaz design team has chosen a 2415 stitchmat as our primary structural laminant. This product is manufactured by Owens Corning, an industry leader in fiberglass technology. Layer after layer are painstakingly applied and hand rolled to ensure maximum strength and adhesion. A total of nine layers go into the hull of every 32 Express, and an amazing eleven layers go into every 40 Express hull! Our hulls are 100% hand laminated fiberglass, there is no coring material below the rubrail. This time-tested method of construction serves two purposes. First, every Topaz bottom Laminationis over one inch thick solid fiberglass, we challenge you to find a heavier built boat. "
lushes too - The Topaz website was last updated in February 2007, so I don't think it is up to date. When I spoke to the Topaz factory engineer at the Miami Show in Feb. 2008, he told me they had started coring the hulls above the chine, just like they were building the Egg Harbors, Predator and Buddy Davis Hulls. If I were buying, I would check before I bought.
lushes too - The Topaz website was last updated in February 2007, so I don't think it is up to date. When I spoke to the Topaz factory engineer at the Miami Show in Feb. 2008, he told me they had started coring the hulls above the chine, just like they were building the Egg Harbors, Predator and Buddy Davis Hulls. If I were buying, I would check before I bought.
LI32 - It looks like you are correct the Newer 33 Topaz's are a composite construction. I just got a 33 spec sheet in the mail today and it does not give much detail about the hull construction but does say "Advanced Composite Construction".
32 Topaz 
